News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Grand Coulee Police 5/13 - A woman drove her car into the ditch near the carwash at Jack’s 4-Corners Gas Station, and couldn’t back out because of the sandy conditions of the ditch. The woman said she misjudged the turn into the gas station. A man came and towed the car out of the ditch. 5/14 - A caller reported a child wasn’t in their seat on a school bus. An officer was unable to respond due to being occupied with a higher priority situation. - A woman reported that her children were playing near the former middle school on Federal Avenu...
The votes are in for the primary election for seven of the 14 positions on the Colville Business Council, the main governing body of the Colville Tribes, with 13 candidates seeking office in the Nespelem District alone. All the incumbents survived the primary. The primary narrows the number of candidates for each position down to two who will face off in the general election June 22. The Nespelem District Position 1 race was led by incumbent and current CBC chair Rodney Cawston (324) and Charlene Bearcub (157). Eliminated from that race are...
Faced with critics who question discipline policies at Lake Roosevelt Schools, officials Monday presented data and studies behind a direction they said is not only working better locally, but also mandated statewide. Ready with a raft of statistics for Grand Coulee Dam School District directors at a special meeting, Elementary Principal Lisa Lakin, Mark Herndon and Elementary Dean of Students Shamra Steffler told the school board that incidents of undesirable student behavior are way down from last year, thanks to programs put in place to...
The National Weather Service in Spokane has issued a flood watch for areas in North Central Washington and Eastern Washington, including around Grand Coulee Dam. NWS is warning of showers and thunderstorms that might be capable of flash flooding from 2 p.m. today through late tonight, Thursday, May 16. NWS warns: "* Flood Watch for portions of North Central Washington and Northeast Washington, including the following counties, in North Central Washington, Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan. In... Full story
Tribal, state and local governments have joined forces at Lake Roosevelt to combat the spread of northern pike, recently recorded just two dams away from critical Columbia River salmon habitat. The lake’s co-managers at the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Spokane Tribe of Indians and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife worked alongside the Kalispel Tribe of Indians and public utility districts in Chelan and Grant Counties May 6-10 to catch northern pike in the largest coordinated suppression event of its kind. “We are...
Electric City quietly changed the rules Tuesday night that govern the process by which it could fire its fire chief. The vote happened moments after Electric City’s fire chief told people waiting outside city hall during a closed session of the city council that a problem he’d had with the mayor had been ameliorated with a letter of reprimand instead of a dismissal. The city council passed an ordinance that takes out a reference to state law that imposes an appeals process giving a fired civil service employee 10 days to demand an appeal bef...
High voltage power lines cross North Dam Park and a section of the Colorama carnival, as seen from a helicopter Saturday. The placement of one of the taller rides offered by the carnival became an issue on Thursday that nearly shut down the whole carnival when Bonneville Power Administration officials flew in to object to the carnival operating within its right of way. Chamber leaders negotiated for some time before BPA allowed the rest of the carnival to continue after taking down one ride....
Four of the five Electric City Council seats are up for election this year, as is the mayor’s office, and interest is running higher than usual. It’s filing week in Washington, and people interested in running for elected office have until Friday to file their intentions. In Electric City, council positions held by Rich McGuire (position 2), Birdie Hensley (3), Carol Nordine (4), and Lonna Bussert (5) are up for election. The seat held by McGuire, who on Tuesday withdrew his candidacy, is up for a two-year stint, according to the Grant Cou...
As Sheriff Wade Magers, several of his staff, two county commissioners and computer personnel held their collective breath on the morning of April 23, the Lincoln County Sheriff's dispatching center's new technology "went live" and the system that was first installed in 2004 was shut down. Everything worked as expected, giving communications deputies who work inside the dispatching center the benefit of the latest equipment as they take calls from the public requesting law enforcement, fire and...
Cody Leonard was referred to with the wrong gender pronoun in a story about Geezer Beach last week. She is a woman.... Full story
From left, Vernon George, Aaron Andrews, Zane Bjorson, Macy Paslay, Tanner Lauseng, Jamie Dobson, Harper Wahpat, Tony Cantrell, Javon Lewis-Torres, Roamen Picard, Dy Mnd Friedlander, and Eva Connor take off from the starting line during Mini Bloomsday at Lake Roosevelt Elementary on Friday. - Scott Hunter photo...
The Colville Tribes have formed a horse management team to help manage the feral horses on the reservation. The tribes have, in recent years, paid money to remove portions of the feral horse population via controversial roundups using helicopters to herd the animals, which were eventually shipped to Canada for slaughter. The most recent effort “failed miserably,” according to the tribes’ Natural Resource Director Cody Desautel. Sun J Ranch, which had removed horses from the reservation in the past, was paid $50,000 for this year’s removal...
A peaceful, but angry, group of about 40-50 people gathered outside of city hall in Electric City Wednesday afternoon in support of Mark Payne, the city's fire chief, who is facing disciplinary action regarding holding wildland fire-training exercises without a permit or the mayor's permission. "I am convinced that it is more likely than not that you violated state law in conducting an unauthorized fire training on April 19, 2019, on the Banks Lake Golf Course," says a letter Payne received...
Locals overwhelmingly oppose a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal to ban cars from driving on “Geezer Beach,” a beach named after the elderly who frequent the spot because of its easy accessibility. The issue is a hot topic among locals passionate about the popular fishing spot behind the Third Powerhouse of the Grand Coulee Dam. The bureau released its “Draft Environmental Assessment” in April, outlining options of leaving the situation alone, blocking vehicles from the shore, or simply banning recreation in the area altogether. “The pu...
They came to listen and understand what has some Grand Coulee and Electric City customers upset enough to start a petition. Grant County PUD officials held a listening session and dialogue with people at last Thursday’s Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce meeting at Siam Palace. They heard plenty of opinions on less access at the local PUD office, which is open twice a week, including from Lonna Bussert, who had put out petitions for better customer service after spending lots of time on the phone not getting help. Public Affairs O...
Commissioners from the Coulee Area Park & Recreation District met at North Dam Park April 30 to walk around the park and discuss aspects of it, future plans, and talking points for an upcoming meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns the land, and for which CAPRD manages the park. Chairman Kevin Portch and Commissioners Bob Valen, Josh Vega, and Ben Hughes attended the meeting. Absent was Commissioner Carla Marconi. The group toured the concession stand at the upper ballfield and...
Grand Coulee Police 4/12 - An employee at the Hi-Co station on SR-174 reported a counterfeit $20 bill, checked with a special pen. The customers were an identified man and unknown woman. The woman was said to have tried to get the bill back, which the clerk denied. The man later said he got the bill when he sold a bluetooth speaker. The police report states the fraudulent bill is consistent with what is sold online at a particular website. 4/26 - A German man vacationing in the United States when he learned his bank account had been...
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Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne received a letter from the city regarding disciplinary action being considered against him for illegal burning practices. Payne, who forwarded The Star the letter, believes the action is directly related to his role as a key critic of a planned intersection change for which the city has taken heat. The Star was unable to reach Nordine for comment prior to deadline. The April 26 letter signed by Mayor John Nordine puts Payne “on notice of proposed discipline up to and including removal as fire chief and termin...
Banks Lake Golf Course and surrounding land have been declared surplus items, opening up the possibility of them being sold. Grant County Port District 7 commissioners, who manage the golf course as well as the nearby airport, declared the golf course, the clubhouse, equipment, and surrounding land surplus at their April 25 meeting, with a total of 189.3 acres included, valued at $1.64 million. That surrounding land is estimated to be about 79 acres, separate from the golf course, and could...
It’s hard for a child to learn in a classroom if other students are being disruptive, even violent. A conversation about this took place at the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors’ meeting April 22. Clarissa Cawston addressed the board, bringing up behavioral issues in her daughter’s second-grade class, where she began volunteering daily after noticing her daughter’s grades slipping. “She has one kid over here chucking stuff across the room, one kid over here just non-stop talking, one kid over here who will just walk out — and...
Construction has resumed on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation fire station off SR-155, with completion anticipated for March of 2020. The $13.6 million contract was originally awarded to Innovative Construction & Design Ltd. in 2016, with construction beginning in April of 2017. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of this year, and construction has resumed in April by Northcon Construction. "Basically what is going on is ICD originally had the contract, and...
The classic toy LEGO has evolved over the years to incorporate robotics, and students at Nespelem Elementary are using LEGO robots to learn coding and robotics, skills that will be more and more valued in the future. For Inspiration of Science and Technology, or FIRST, is a global program in which students get hands-on experience with things like LEGO robots. FIRST Washington partnered with Nespelem Elementary for an after-school program that averages about six to seven kids, four days a week,...
The city of Coulee Dam has OK’d a lease for the Melody Restaurant space in its community building, the city council Wednesday voting unanimously to approve it and promising cooperation on certain maintenance issues for the new operators. Jon Anderson and Stephanie Guin negotiated a deal with the business’ previous owner over a period of several months, he told The Star in March. They’ve been negotiating the lease with the city since, mostly while operating under the previous lease held by Juan Moreno, who has since been deported to Mexic...
It’s Colorama time next week, when the carnival comes to town, runners lace up those shoes, cowboys ride into town and people line the streets of Grand Coulee for the parade. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect. We’ll get into more detail with a special section in next week’s Star. Rainier Amusements will again bring in the carnival, as they did last year, beginning Thursday, May 9, at 4 p.m. Presale tickets are still available for less money than you’ll pay at the carnival. The Colorama Color Run is set for 9-11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, a...